Upon closing of the acquisition, the Norwegian company will have complete ownership in SPC, comprising 49% interest in the TPS Assets and 87.5% interest in SOEP
Panoro Energy to acquire stake in Sfax Petroleum. (Credit: Ben Wicks on Unsplash)
Norway-based Panoro Energy has agreed to snap up Beender Tunisia Petroleum’s 40% stake in Sfax Petroleum Corporation (SPC) for $18.2m.
SPC, through its subsidiaries, indirectly owns a 49% interest in producing TPS Assets and an 87.5% interest in the Sfax Offshore Exploration Permit (SOEP).
SOEP contains the Ras El Besh Concession and is located in the prolific oil and gas Cretaceous and Eocene carbonate platforms of the Pelagian Basin, offshore Tunisia.
TPS Assets include five oil field concessions, Cercina, Cercina Sud, Rhemoura, El Ain/Gremda and El Hajeb/Guebiba, located near the city of Sfax, onshore and offshore shallow water.
Panoro currently owns 60% of SPC, including 29.4% in TPS Assets and 52.5% in SOEP.
Upon closing of the acquisition, the Norwegian company will have complete ownership in SPC, comprising 49% interest in the TPS Assets and 87.5% interest in SOEP.
Panoro CEO John Hamilton said: “The acquisition materially increases our interest in the producing TPS Assets, where we have built a deep understanding through our role as joint operator alongside the Tunisian national oil company ETAP since 2018, and the prospective Sfax Offshore Exploration Permit.
“The TPS Assets are long-life, low-cost oil fields with a stable production history and significant volumes of oil yet to be recovered while the Sfax Offshore Exploration Permit holds three oil discoveries and numerous identified prospects and leads in the vicinity of existing infrastructure.
“Beender has been a highly valued minority partner for several years and we now welcome them as Panoro shareholders.”
Panoro will pay the upfront consideration of $4.9m in cash and $8.3m through the issue of 2,945,035 new Panoro shares at a price of NOK29.18 per share.
The company will pay half of the share consideration within a lock-up period of six months, with the remaining consideration within 12 months of the lock-up period.
As part of the acquisition, Panoro has assumed around $4m of Beender’s share of outstanding loan facilities, along with its share of cash and working capital equivalent to around $6.5m.
The transaction will add an estimated 2.96 million barrels of net 2P reserves and 800 to 900bopd of net production.
Also, it will increase the company’s full-year 2023 production guidance to 9,500 to 11,500bopd and increases the 2023 peak target to more than 13,000bopd.
Panoro chairman Julien Balkany said: “We are very pleased to complete this complementary acquisition of almost three million barrels of oil of 2P reserves and net daily production of 800-900bopd.
“We welcome the opportunity to expand our position in Tunisia and to increase our net exposure to our TPS existing producing assets with minimal additional G&A costs.
“The attractive purchase price means this value-driven acquisition shall be immediately accretive and is consistent with Panoro’s strategic vision whilst remaining fully committed to maintaining our current shareholder returns policy.”